Disability campaigners, who said councillors refused to look them in the eye, claimed a small victory when the council opted to investigate if reserves could be used to delay some of the changes

The changes will include:

Raising the threshold for who can receive care, meaning only people who have “substantial needs” will be eligible

Increasing the financial contribution made towards care and support, including users with more than £50,000 capital paying 100%

Introducing a £5 daily fee for transport to day care and other activities

Councillor Clare Neill, cabinet member for adult social care, said: “For adult social care, my share of [the cuts] is £65m over three to four years.

“This year, I’ve got to cut £11m from my budget – clearly I can only spend the money I’ve got.”

Poverty line

But campaigners said it disproportionately affected people with disabilities and that the consultation was flawed, which they said potentially gave them grounds for a judicial review.

Gary Matthews, Derbyshire representative of Disabled People Against Cuts, said: “The council’s own report says people will be unsafe at home, there will be more accidents at home because of a lack of care and people’s health will deteriorate.

“This will put an extra stress on the NHS. Some people believe the council is complicit in murder.”

He added that the introduction of charges will force many disabled people in to poverty.

Dear DPAC. Our fight for Luke’s budget goes on. It is now going for judicial review. The Health part of his budget (cut from £1860 a month to £54) has been assessed and apparently is still being assessed. The two qualified OT’s struggled with both of them trying to move Luke, and making hard work of it with sliding sheets (which he does not need, and seem downright dangerous to me). But they are saying his needs are not complex . I asked what would make it complex, as they seemed to find it difficult, the said ‘If the client was aggressive. I’ll keep you informed of any good news!
Jasmine for Luke